As is known in the art, one popular data distribution protocol allowing users to subscribe to feeds of data is referred to as Really Simple Syndication (RSS). RSS is a group of data feed formats used to publish frequently updated information, including web logs (blogs), discussion forums, news headlines, audio and video content. RSS documents save information in eXtensible Markup Language (XML) format such as links, updated data, publishing dates, and/or authorship information.
Publishers may use RSS feeds to syndicate content automatically. Readers may subscribe to such feeds to obtain timely updates to information they desire, such as up-to-date stock information, news related to topics of interest, web discussion forums, etc. For example, users may subscribe to a RSS feed by activating a uniform resource locator (URL) for a link representing the RSS feed. The RSS reader checks the feed to view any updates.
Another type of data feed format known in the art is the Atom Syndication Format, which is an XML-based format for web-based data feeds. Paired with this is the Atom Publishing Protocol, which uses the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) to publish and automate web-based data feeds.
As is also known, eXtensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) is a popular (and United States Department of Defense mandated) collaboration protocol, enabling users with differing chat clients to participate in instant messaging sessions. While RSS and XMPP are both popular protocols which provide different capabilities, there does not appear to be any attempts to integrate them together. Rather, prior work with RSS and XMPP has focused on expanding the functionality of each separately.